Information storage mechanisms currently found in today's market include many durable media formats. The most common of these durable medias are compact discs (CDs), digital video discs (DVDs), and magnetic tapes. Durable medias are commonly found in many industries including the movie and music industry, and are often utilized in the dissemination of consumer information. At a basic level, the information contained on existing durable media often lasts an inappropriately long time given the content, sensitivity, or application of the contained information. Forecasts, census data, safety procedures, and the like, all have lifetimes after which the data can no longer be relied upon as current. Unfortunately, the durable media on which it is distributed lasts beyond this useful life allowing careless individuals the opportunity to misuse the outdated information.
In the video rental industry, movies are typically contained on durable media which last beyond the rental period, thus the media must be returned to the store. This is both inconvenient for the consumer and the vendor in keeping track of the media. In the instance of sensitive material that is contained on a durable media, the information must be tracked extensively and explicitly destroyed at a costly price, in that the data will last for an extended period of time.
One of the most common of the durable medias, CD-Rs (recordable compact discs), employs dyes and variants which exhibit widely different tolerances to light exposure in determining the media lifetime. Specifically, cyanine dyes are most commonly used in CD-Rs which are considered to be relatively stable and therefore provide for recordation of data for an extended period of time. In many instances, such as those described above, this extended period of time in which the recordation of information is contained on the durable media presents a problem.
Thus, there is a need for a media system in which information can be written on an information storage mechanism that upon the interaction with a media information system reader, the stored information is eliminated or access to the information is eliminated.
Accordingly, it is highly desirable to provide for a new and improved perishable media system including a means for writing information onto a perishable media information storage mechanism, wherein the information on the media information storage mechanism is deemed perishable in nature upon the happening of a preset determined occurrence. The compatible media reader includes a means for eliminating information or eliminating access to information stored on the media information storage mechanism, and an interpretation mechanism.
It is yet a further purpose of the present invention to provide for a new and improved media system in which information recorded on a compatible media information storage mechanism is eliminated or access to the information is eliminated upon interaction with the media reader based on a predetermined use factor.